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In the UK proper nouns generally don't use an apostrophe;
for example it should be Kings Cross Station, not "King's Cross" (their website seems to be wrong on this).

I am referring of course to Kings Cross Railway Station, not the ghastly phrase "train station".

Hi Trebornotlaw,

I've given a link to a really good article on the mess surrounding the apostrophe or lack thereof in the title so won't comment further, but I thought I'd copy and paste the very first sentence....

King's Cross, or Kings Cross? Let's take a look at the evidence...

Wikipedia contradicts itself right from the start. Kings in the title, King's in the first line...and then a mixture throughout. Useless.

Oops! the link....

https://londonist.com/2011/10/should-kings-cross-have-an-apostrophe

I would be interested to hear your authority for that. Is it something which has come about as the result of people's ignorance or indolence?
What about St. James's Park?

Every book I can lay my hands on puts an apostrophe in King's Cross, but of course there is never an apostrophe when kings is part of a longer name, such as Kingsbury. Earls Court doesn't have one most of the time and neither does Goldsmiths. Personally, I favour less clutter when possible and I would be happy to see the end of the apostrophe, despite the occasional confusion it would cause.

Basically, there is no consistency. Various books have been written about the Thirty Years War, all with impeccable scholarship, and yet some have an apostrophe and others don't.

I agree about the horrible phrase train station, which has become popular in recent years. The convention is (or was) that if it is for trains, station by itself is enough. For other stations, they should be specified, such as bus station or petrol station.

Jigjag

Yes Chris Kamara is one of Sky`s footy pundits - his enthusiasm for the game often makes him talk rubbish but he`s a `proper` football person. I begrudge paying for Sky but I love most sport - especially football and cricket.

Israel seem to have been in`Eurovision` for years!

Despard

I think Kings Cross is correct ... St James, St James` and St James`s all seem to be acceptable ... Newcastle United spell the name of their ground St James` but pronounce it St James`s !

I believe it's Exeter St james Park without the apostrophe and St James' Park Newcastle with one.

I had a big argument about this a few years ago on here. In my opinion, "St James' Park" is simply wrong. It would refer to a park belonging (or named after) more than one St Jame. As someone said earlier, when spoken, it's St James's.

Rossim

I agree ... interesting that Exeter St Davids Railway Station doesn`t seem to qualify for a ` ... personally I think it should.

Chrise

St James continues to cause controversy ... when in Newcastle it`s probably wisest to stick with St James`... unless you have a particular liking for hospital food !

Brendan et al

In the Land of Oz, apostrophes on place-name signs have been officially (or is that officiously) omitted by decree by whoever officially decrees such things

I am led to believe that it is an economy measure, and can well imagine that the savings on paint and labour costs would be significant

Sir Humphrey would approve